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A petite fragment from themost dangerous asteroid in the solar systemhas arrived in the U.K. — and scientist think it could instruct us about the beginning of lifetime on Earth .
The sherd — a millimeter - sizing ( 0.04 inch ) piece from the or so 6 - ounce ( 170 Gram ) sample that was collected from the asteroid Bennu and may contain the precursors to life-time — arrived at the Natural History Museum in London Tuesday ( Nov. 28 ) .
The sample sent to the UK’s Natural History Museum is just a small slice of the regolith collected from Bennu.
NASAscientists first give away the sample on Oct. 11 after it hurtle back to Earthaboard the OSIRIS - REx capsuleat speeds of up to 27,000 miles per hour ( 43,000 km / h ) . After a seven - yr , 4 billion - mile ( 6.4 billion kilometers ) bout trip , the abridgement deployed its chute and safely shore in the Utah desert before being transported to Johnson Space Center in Houston . Now , bits of it are being sent around the macrocosm for analytic thinking .
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" It ’s almost unbelievably exciting,“Sara Russell , a professor of cosmic mineralogy and terrestrial science at the Natural History Museum , say in a instruction . " It ’s almost like a dreaming to have the sample distribution back , because we ’ve been thinking about it for so long . "
OSIRIS-REx’s view of asteroid Bennu
Bennu is apotentially hazardous asteroidthat has a 1 - in-2,700 probability of chance upon Earth in the year 2182 — the high betting odds of any known space object . But the scientist are more concerned in what ’s trapped inside the space rock music : the possible extraterrestrial herald of life history on Earth .
" This is the prominent carbon paper - rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth , " NASA AdministratorBill Nelsonsaid ata news conferenceupon the sample distribution ’s return . " Carbon and water molecule are exactly the elements we wanted to get . They ’re crucial elements in the formation of our own planet , and they ’re run to help us determine the origins of elements that could have led to life . "
Earth ’s water is elder than the planet itself and was probably add here by asteroid andcomet impact . But piddle in all likelihood was n’t the only material asteroids brought to Earth ; the edifice blocks of life likely jerk a drive on a blank stone , too . Bennu is a B-complex vitamin - type asteroid , which means it contain gamey amounts ofcarbonand , potentially , many of the primal molecules present when sprightliness emerged on Earth .
Some of these edifice blocks — including U , one of the nucleobases forRNA — were recentlyfound on the asteroid Ryuguby the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ’s Hayabusa2 space vehicle , which returned to Earth with its rock sample distribution in 2020 . OSIRIS - king mission scientist are hoping to find other potential precursors for Earth ’s biology inside the Bennu sample .
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The sampling was collectedafter nearly two year of searchingfor a landing place land site on Bennu ’s craggy surface . Upon making contact with the asteroid , OSIRIS - REx terminate a volley of N from its Touch - and - Go Sample - Acquisition Mechanism to both stick the landing place and forbid the craft from sinking through the asteroid .
The blast sent rocks and dust swag around the craftiness , and some of that rocky debris landed in a tin aboard OSIRIS - REx . A follow - up blast of OSIRIS - REx ’s pusher by and by lifted it from Bennu , and the spacecraft completed a number of flyovers before leave the asteroid for Earth in May 2021 .
Now that the sample has arrived , scientists around the world will begin psychoanalyse it for clues about how oursolar system , and the spirit on our satellite , came to be .
" It ’s kind of like the remnant edifice block of our solar system,“Ashley King , a meteorite researcher at the Natural History Museum , articulate in the statement . " When we guess about how planet Earth formed , all the element are also locked up within Bennu . So we want to disinvolve the account of Bennu and learn about the extraction of the solar system of rules and then the chronicle of Earth . "
